Published on October 27, 2005

The celebrity magazine that celebrities love is launching a Thai edition next week

If VIP tickets to a Man U match at Old Trafford and an England team shirt autographed by David Beckham sound more than just “okay” to you, you might want to subscribe to OK! magazine.

Britain’s biggest-selling celebrity magazine will launch a Thai edition next week, adding extra weight to the welter of celebrity-intensive publications crowding the newsstand.

The Thai-language OK!, though, promises closer proximity to the rich and famous, because it’s following in the footsteps of the UK and US editions, which had exclusive access to such starry affairs as the weddings of Britney Spears, the Beckhams and Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.

With a couple of our own celebs at the helm – editor Promporn Yuvaves and consulting editor Sonia Couling – the Thai edition will delve into the lives and loves of the headline-makers in exclusive interviews.

Some will be prodded to reveal their beauty tips for readers, and a “celebrity doctor” will offer advice on keeping up appearances.

The red carpet rolls out on Monday for the magazine’s by-invitation-only launch party at Bangkok’s Central World Plaza.

Twenty VIPs – among them Cindy Burbridge, Methinee Kingphayome, Cherry Khemupsorn and ex-Manchester United player Lee Sharpe – will ride chauffeur-driven BMWs to the party.

Rock group Noo Wan and a celeb fashion show will entertain the throng, but publisher Kelly May also has a worthy cause in mind: raising money for the continuing tsunami-recovery effort.

May’s work in Phuket with forensic scientist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunan in the wake of the disaster has ensured she will continue with aid efforts.

“Whole livelihoods were destroyed after the tsunami, and they’re going to take a lifetime to rebuild,” she says. “We must not forget the communities who are still rebuilding their lives and who still need our support and compassion.”

That’s where the celebrity cash comes in. May is auctioning two tickets for a VIP box at Old Trafford to watch Manchester United play, in addition to a signed David Beckham England shirt.

Lee Sharpe – who played for the Red Devils for eight years and was capped eight times by the England team between 1991 and 1995 – will personally present the tickets and shirt to the highest bidder at the launch party.

But everyone can have a flutter. Put in a bid by calling Khun June at (02) 204 2370, extension 308, before Monday.

The first issue of the Thai OK! features a world-exclusive interview with hotel heiress and mega-celeb Paris Hilton, and a local exclusive too – the wedding of Ning-Saraichat Kunchorn Na Ayutthaya and Boat-Jamorn Jeeraphat.

The magazine also pokes around in a slurpy can of worms by asking nosy questions about romance on the set of “Academy Fantasia”.

OK! – on sale on Tuesday for Bt45 – insists it will further set itself apart from other star-studded publications by steering clear of celeb scandals and gossip, instead reporting star-raight from the horse’s mouth.

Jane Bachelor

Special to The Nation

Post your comment to this story here